1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle passenger restraining system. More specifically, the present invention relates to a vehicle passenger restraining system having a knee bolster configured and arranged to restrain a forward movement of knees of a passenger during a collision.
2. Background Information
In a conventional vehicle passenger restraining system, when a vehicle undergoes a front collision, a forward movement of a passenger sitting in a passenger seat of the vehicle is restrained by a seat belt member including a lap belt and a shoulder belt. However, a portion of the passenger's body, i.e., a portion from a waist down (lower limbs) of the passenger, sometimes slips beneath the lap belt and moves forward during the front collision. To prevent the passenger's lower limbs from moving forward, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. H02-182553 discloses a conventional vehicle passenger restraining system having a knee bolster that restrains and presses against passenger's knees during a collision. More specifically, the above mentioned reference discloses the vehicle passenger restraining system in which the knee bolster is arranged in front of knees of the passenger sitting in a passenger seat of a vehicle. The knee bolster is configured and arranged to move rearward to suppress a forward motion of the passenger's knees when a front collision occurs.
In the above mentioned reference, a lower portion of the knee bolster is coupled to a vehicle body member such that the knee bolster can swing (pivot) freely about the coupling portion. An upper portion of the knee bolster is coupled to a cooling unit disposed adjacent to a dash panel of the vehicle by a rod member. As the dash panel collapses during a collision, the cooling unit moves rearward and causes the rod member to push the upper portion of the knee bolster rearward.
However, when the knee bolster restrains the knees of the passenger, slack (looseness) remaining in the lap belt flows from a tongue of the seat belt member to the shoulder belt. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. H10-152019 describes another conventional passenger restraining system in which a portion of the lap belt that passes through the tongue is locked during a collision in order to more reliably restrain an upper half of the passenger's body by preventing such a flow of slack from the lap belt.
In view of the above, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure that there exists a need for an improved vehicle passenger restraining system. This invention addresses this need in the art as well as other needs, which will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure.